Craig Gartland bought this jersey from Ed DesJardins (then the UCVC president) in 1990. He had just arrived to Chicago from UC Santa Barbara where he had taken up cycling after failing as a rower. At that time, collegiate cycling was just starting in the Western states and may not have even spread to the Midwest.When asked by Ed what category he was, Craig replied:
"I am a 2."
"You raced in California?"
"Yes."
"Then you are a REAL 2."
Craig ended up winning the Monsters of the Midway making him one of only two UCVCers known to me to have won our home race (photo #2).
Craig also won the huge Chicago International Cycling Challenge on 9/25/1993 (now defunct, sort of revived this year) after a late solo attack in the rain (photo 3).
"I was racing Cat. 3 in the early '90s for UCVC and this was a big win for me (I think I took home over $300). It was right downtown around Buckingham Fountain. Like the Monsters of the Midway Race of '91, I soloed, this time with 2 laps to go. In the rain. Lots of crashes that day."
The pros race later in the day featured Laurent Fignon and Gianni Bugno, whose Gatorade team must have been paid huge appearance fees.
The pros race later in the day featured Laurent Fignon and Gianni Bugno, whose Gatorade team must have been paid huge appearance fees.
"In the "team" photo (next) with me are: Scott Anderson (left) and Paul Sklena. Scott was from Vancouver and had raced track and road up there since he was a kid. A strong rider. Paul is now a pediatrician in Ohio. Paul's claim to fame on the UCVC was as a track sprinter. In '93 (I believe) he qualified for and competed in the USCF National Track Championships (Minn., MN). Note the next evolution of the UCVC kit on the middle guy (and note the early incarnation of the UCVC logo). That is your '93 jersey. Also note the down tube shifters."
"This is important stuff! I have great memories of it all. I have even found a couple of Maroon articles about the MoM race from '91 and '93. In the '91 article they said my victory "saved the day" for the UCVC. Too much."
6 comments:
That's a fantastic post and better yet: that jersey is amazing. It's dated even for 1990, which is so great. By the late 80s, although screening lycra wasn't as easy as today's sublimation techniques, we were starting to see some pretty crazy, modern looks.
But this one is a real throwback. It's designed like a mid-60s wool jersey with patches and felted letters instead of screened logos. Love it!
If/when I actually get this new store space, we should have a UCVC party/recruiting event and hang up old jerseys as art for the night. And actually... the ceiling is 3 feet higher than the current space, so I *could* have a semipermanent display up high...
This is the same jersey as the one Tim Belton gave to me. We were doing a two-person TT together, and he brought it along so we'd match - at that point I was new to the club and didn't have a kit. At the end of the race he told me to keep it.
What you can't really see in the photo is that the material is a slightly shiny white. It's also really heavy, like thermal arm warmers, and it must have sucked to race in during the summer.
Thanks again, Tim!
wow, jt! i am chillaxin in my new digs in boulder and loving reading this! hope things are good in chi!
I have a few of the 91/92 jerseys. They were quite thick, but had the advantage of being breathable on the front! I still use them in cooler weather.
We switched to Aussie (now defunct) in 93 or 94. Here are a few examples:
http://makrl.com/ucvc/pages/moline.htm
http://makrl.com/ucvc/pages/moline2.htm
Looks like the yellow jerseys came in just after I left.
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